Canon ImageClass MF227dw Review

Table of Contents

Introduction, Design & Features

Canon is well-known for its photo-minded all-in-one inkjet printers (and, of course, its cameras). But fewer people are aware of the company’s laser and laser-class (LED-array-based) printers.

Not only does the Japanese imaging giant make its own line of highly capable laser and LED-based printers, but it’s also an original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, for other printer vendors. (That, ironically, includes one of Canon’s largest printer competitors, HP.)

Just as the company offers a comprehensive line of single-function and multifunction inkjet machines, so it does for laser and laser-class printers. For example, the last Canon laser multifunction printer (MFP) we looked at was the $1,000-MSRP, huge-and-heavy Color ImageClass MF810Cdn. Conversely, today we’re reviewing the company’s ImageClass MF227dw, a monochrome-laser MFP with a $174 price on the street and from Canon.

We’ve looked at a bunch of laser and laser-class machines lately, including a few monochrome models, both single-function and multifunction. In this case, the MF227dw is a print, scan, copy, and fax model, and believe it or not, this is not the first time we’ve seen a full-blown multifunction laser printer for under $200 (even if it is only a monochrome model). As we wrote this in late February 2016, Samsung’s four-star Multifunction Xpress M2885FW was on sale at Amazon for $173, and, cheaper still, Dell’s also-four-star B1165nfw Mono Laser Multifunction Printer was running at $130.

Oftentimes, though, the cost of a printer is not always the most important consideration. Depending on how much you use it, the printer’s cost per page, or CPP, can greatly influence its overall value quotient. Our MF227dw has only a 10,000-page duty cycle, which is the maximum number of prints Canon says you can print safely each month. Even so, if you actually pushed that many prints through this little MFP, as you’ll see in the Setup & Paper Handling section later on, you'd regret it. It would, compared to some other, slightly pricier printers, bleed you in terms of the cost of consumables—in this case, black toner.

As we’ve said about so many laser and laser-class printers of late, if it wasn’t for the cost per page, we’d be more enthusiastic about the prospects of these printers, given the figures we are seeing from some high-volume inkjet models these days. That said, since this really is an entry-level, low-volume MFP, it is, in our opinion, best reserved for a low output volume—no more than, say, a few hundred pages per week, tops. Beyond that, the more that you print on this printer, the less fiscal sense it makes, compared to other printers on the spectrum.

That’s not to say that this isn’t a good monochrome multifunction printer. In addition to printing well, it stands ready to copy, scan, or fax when you need it to. We can think of hundreds of home-based and small businesses where the ImageClass MF227dw would be a nice fit—with the key, again, being keeping it on a relatively light diet of prints and copies.

Design & Features

As you’d expect from a laser-based MFP in this price range, the MF227dw’s not much of a looker, nor is it particularly high-tech, in terms of mobile and cloud-connectivity options. While it may not be feature-rich, exactly, it’s capable enough for many low-volume printing environments.

At 15.4 inches across, by 14.6 inches from front to back, by 14.2 inches high, and weighing a slim 28.2 pounds, the MF227dw is, for all that it does, compact. At the top of the machine, you’ll find a 35-sheet automatic document feeder (ADF) for feeding multipage documents to the scanner without your intervention.

Unfortunately, the ADF is not auto-duplexing, meaning that it can’t scan two-sided multipage documents without your having to turn your originals over manually. (That said, we wouldn’t really expect a laser MFP in this price range to have an auto-duplexing ADF, anyway.) On the “flip” side, pardon the gruesome pun, the print engine itself is auto-duplexing, so that feed can print two-sided pages without your help.

Connectivity on the M227dw is basic fare, consisting of Wi-Fi, wired Ethernet, or a direct connection to a single PC via USB. You can also use the M227dw as a walk-up, or PC-free, copier and fax machine. You can also print from and scan to Android and iOS mobile devices. However, unlike most printers nowadays, this one does not support peer-to-peer connections via Wi-Fi Direct or Near-Field Communication (NFC). Furthermore, to access the limited mobile connectivity available, you must be connected to the Internet via a router or access point. These features won’t work when you directly connect the printer to a computer over USB.

Wi-Fi Direct (or its equivalent), in case you are unfamiliar with it, allows two compatible devices to connect without having to join a network. NFC, on the other hand, allows a compatible smartphone or tablet to connect and exchange data with the printer by simply touching it to a hotspot on the printer. In the end, we wonder how many home-based businesses or small offices actually need to print mono images from their smartphones or tablets, so the NFC omission may not be too big a loss. (A claims adjuster, maybe? Surely, even he or she would prefer color, as well as the better color and detail you’d get from an actual camera.)

Configuration and some connectivity options are managed from the well-designed monochrome touch LCD, a six-line, customizable screen that anchors a much larger control panel. The panel has several analog keys, used mainly for controlling the copy and fax functions.

Setup & Cost per Page

As laser printers go, at 28 pounds, the ImageClass MF227dw is easy to get out of the box, and with a footprint of 15.4x14.6 inches, it’s not really very big. Chances are, it will fit under most low-hanging cabinets or shelves, and it should fit comfortably on some desktops, especially if you deploy it as your personal laser printer. In any case, as we mentioned earlier, it supports Wi-Fi, Ethernet, and USB; finding a place to put it where it can connect shouldn’t be difficult.

This printer lacks the colorful graphical interfaces found on so many printers nowadays, so the help we would normally receive in the form of illustrated and animated demonstrations was missing. Even so, between the Start Here guide and prompts on the monochrome touch screen, setting up the printer and installing the software went smoothly.

With a monochrome printer, of course, you have to concern yourself with only the black toner cartridge—in this case, only one black toner cartridge. The Canon Cartridge 137, rated at 2,400 pages, sells at the Canon Store for $84. Using these numbers, we came up with a black-and-white CPP figure of 3.5 cents.

Normally, we’d be all over this number as far too high, but when talking about laser printers, we’re usually talking high-volume models, or at least midrange ones. With its modest 10,000-page monthly duty cycle and small-for-a-laser 2,400-page toner cartridge, this ImageClass is not masquerading as a high-volume printer.

If you’re printing only a couple hundred pages each week—and certainly under 1,000 pages each month—this no-nonsense monochrome laser can do that, easily. Still, we can’t recommend it if you plan to print anywhere close to that 10,000-page threshold in a month. Doing so, versus several other lasers and many inkjets, will cost you a comparative small fortune.

Paper Handling

The MF227dw has two input sources: a 250-sheet cassette and a single-sheet multipurpose tray for printing envelopes and other one-up media, such as labels or high-quality laser paper for premium projects. This is the main paper tray...

Printed pages land in a 100-sheet nook located just below the control panel…

In addition to the high CPP, this MFP’s low-capacity input cassette and small output tray relegate it to an occasional-use machine. Were you to actually try to use it as a semi-high-volume printer, somebody in your office—you, or someone else—would spend too much time keeping the input tray full and the output tray clear.